It was just a year ago when Illini Central walked off Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena with a victory over Fisher and a spot in the Class 1A final four.

It was five years ago when this group of seniors from the Mason City school walked off the floor after winning the IESA 7-2A state title against Nokomis.

The top-ranked Cougars strolled off Collins Court Wednesday with another supersectional title after defeating Cissna Park 50-39 to earn a spot in this weekend’s state finals. Their opponent Friday afternoon will be Nokomis.

“Seventh grade state championship we played Nokomis,” said Illini Central senior Jared Entwistle. “I don’t know if that’s ever happened before when you play someone in seventh grade state and then you play them at state in high school.”

The Cougars, who have been ranked No. 1 by The Associated Press for most of the second-half of the season, got a boost from reserve Connor Martin in the second quarter to get ahead of the Timberwolves for good.

“I just come in and do whatever coach says. Tonight I was a spark off the bench,” Martin said. “Our main goal for us seniors is to be state champions.”

Down 14-8, the Cougars’ Martin felt the groove in the final minute of the first quarter when he drained a pair of field goals to pull Illini Central within two, at 14-12. It was a 16-12 game after one period and despite another Martin basket, the Timberwolves built a 22-14 advantage in the first two minutes of the second period.

Martin connected again, this time from 15 feet that ignited a huge Illini Central run. The Cougars reeled off 14 straight points and closed out the half by outscoring Cissna Park 19-4 over the final 5 1/2 minutes.

Illini Central led 33-26 at the intermission and upped the margin to 35-26 after Duncan McClure scored in the paint 30 seconds into the third period.

Those were the last points for the Cougars until McClure scored inside again with 1:19 to go in the quarter.

Cissna Park was able to close the gap to 35-34 with eight unanswered points, the last coming off a layup from Josh Marquez after a steal, but did not get the lead back.

It was the defense of the Cougars that kept them in the driver’s seat.

Page 2 of 2 - “I think we’re a great defensive team. We can shoot it a bit but we think our defense is the reason why we win,” Illini Central head coach John Giesler said. “We can score four points a quarter and still win ballgames because we can defend. That’s what happened in the third quarter.”

The Timberwolves trailed 37-34 at the start if the fourth period and got no closer than 42-39 after a Beau Anderson 3-pointer with 4:10 to go in the game.

The Cougars were able to control the ball and the clock and scored the game’s final eight points — six from the free throw line — to make a return trip to Peoria.

Illini Central finished third last year after dumping the Heart of Illinois Conference’s Fisher Bunnies in the supersectional. The Cougars lost to Carrolton by one in the semifinals and then defeated North Shore Country Day 51-48 for third place.

“We saw how close we were last year,” Entwistle said.

Entwistle also said being ranked No. 1 isn’t an issue.

“We do have a target on our back, but we’ve had it for awhile. I think we’ve won 15 games in a row with it on our back,” he said.

Also advancing to Peoria in Class 1A Wednesday was Lanark Eastland, a 51-41 winner over Newark at DeKalb. Eastland will face Madison in the first semifinal at Carver Arena Friday.

Three supersectionals in Class 2A were held Wednesday. Winnebago defeated Monmouth-Roseville 74-53 at DeKalb, Seton Academy tipped Providence-St. Mel 46-45 and St. Joseph-Ogden handled Riverton 59-47 to join Harrisburg in the final four.

Undefeated Winnebago will take on Seton Academy in the first semifinal Friday night. Top-ranked Harrisburg and St. Joseph-Ogden meet in the late game.